After a debate punctuated by frequent references to this week's revelations of post-Katrina wrongdoing by New Orleans police officers, the City Council voted Thursday to create new procedures for appointing and, if needed, removing the city's independent police monitor.

Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-PicayuneInspector General Ed Quatrevaux will make the final selection of police monitor.

The monitor is supposed to act as an independent watchdog of New Orleans Police Department actions, albeit with limited powers. The monitor is responsible for reviewing "civilian and internally generated complaints, internal investigations, discipline, use of force and in-custody deaths." He or she cannot directly investigate allegations of police misconduct but can "assess the quality and timeliness" of department investigations and recommend the department reopen investigations if they were "not thorough or fair."

The monitor also can "review and analyze the numbers and types of complaints; ... review specific issues regarding supervision, training and discipline; conduct relevant pattern analysis; and (perform) other tasks to ensure New Orleans Police Department accountability, transparency and responsiveness to the community it serves."

Under the old rules, the city's inspector general was directed to "consider the recommendations" of a seven-member search committee but in the end could choose whomever he wanted for the monitor's job.

That led to controversy last year when interim Inspector General Leonard Odom announced he intended to appoint the first monitor without interviewing four finalists identified by the selection committee.

After a public outcry, Odom agreed to postpone his decision until the committee held a public meeting to question the finalists. He finally selected Neely Moody, a senior member of the inspector general's staff, but a month later both Odom and Moody quit amid growing controversy about how Odom was running the office.

Norris Henderson, a leader of Safe Streets/Strong Communities, a criminal justice reform group that long lobbied for the monitor, told the council Thursday that the entire episode left "a bad taste in everybody's mouth."

The new rules, approved 5-0 by the council, provide that the inspector general must select one of three finalists named by the selection committee. They also say the finalists must attend two community meetings to introduce themselves to the public and answer questions.

Councilman James Carter, chairman of the council's Criminal Justice Committee, originally proposed giving the selection committee the right to pick the monitor, but at the urging of Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux, who replaced Odom last fall, Carter agreed to let the inspector general make the final selection.

The new rules also provide a procedure for removing a police monitor. They say the monitor can be fired "based on the recommendation of the inspector general and approved by a majority vote of the Ethics Review Board," the seven-member board that hires the inspector general.

Carter had proposed saying the monitor could be removed only "for cause" and by an unspecified "supermajority" of the ethics board, but he dropped those provisions at Quatrevaux's urging.

Although Quatrevaux indicated he preferred retaining sole power to hire and fire the police monitor, he said the final version of Carter's ordinance represented an acceptable compromise. "It's fine with me," he said, persuading a skeptical Councilwoman Jackie Clarkson to agree to vote for the measure.

Quatrevaux said that if he ever decides a police monitor should be removed, he will take the issue to the council.

Voting in favor of the revised ordinance were Carter, Clarkson, President Arnie Fielkow, Stacy Head and Shelley Midura. Cynthia Hedge-Morrell and Cynthia Willard-Lewis were absent.